[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 15]
[House]
[Page 20436]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 ATTEMPTS TO DERAIL HEALTH CARE REFORM

  (Mr. CONNOLLY of Virginia asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. CONNOLLY of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, when our friends on the other 
side of the aisle decide in advance to oppose any health care reform 
bill, they're putting politics ahead of the needs of the American 
people.
  Guaranteeing coverage for preexisting conditions, which affect 45 
percent of insured Americans, they're against it. Closing the 
prescription drug doughnut hole for seniors, they're against it. 
Protecting families from the cost of catastrophic illness, they're 
against it. Half a trillion in Medicare and Medicaid savings, they're 
against it. A plan of their own, they're even against that, too.
  Why, Mr. Speaker? Uniform opposition to all reform, all savings, all 
extended coverage? Why? The answer is simple, chilling, and deeply 
troubling. Senator DeMint, Republican of South Carolina, put it 
bluntly: If we're able to stop Obama on health care, it will be his 
Waterloo. It will break him.
  At least the distinguished Senator from South Carolina is honest 
about the Republican agenda. It's not about a substantive critique. 
It's about politics, a calculated cynical strategy to derail reform of 
a broken health care system, a reform that can benefit every American 
family and small business.

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